Road chair



Dec 15, 193 o. N. WHITEHEAD ROAD CHAIR Filed March 14, 1 956 Patented Dec. 15, 1936 TES UNITED PATENT OFFICE ROAD CHAIR Application March 14,

5 Claims.

My invention relates to a road chair of the general type now commonly employed for supporting crossed reinforcing rods used in road construction.

It is an object of the invention to provide a sturdy road chair which is cheap to manufacture, easy to apply and effective for its purpose of supporting reinforcing rods.

Other objects and various features of invention will be hereinafter pointed out or will become apparent upon a reading of the specification.

In the drawing which shows, for illustrative purposes only, a preferred form of the invention- Fig. l is a top plan View of a road chair illustrating features of the invention and showing fragments of crossed reinforcing rods;

Fig. 2 is an end view in elevation of the chair shown in Fig. 1 as viewed from the left;

Fig. 3 is an edge view of the road chair shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but viewed from the right in Fig. 1.

My improved road chair in the preferred form illustrated includes a sheet metal member having a preferablyflat base portion or foot 5 to rest upon the road bed or foundation. The sheet metal member is bent upon itself, as indicated at 6, to about the central portion of the base and then is bent upwardly to provide an upstanding, substantially vertical, sheet metal standard I. It is preferred to provide ribs or corrugations B8 in the base and preferably also in the return bent portion 6, the ribs in the portion 5 and return bent portion 6 interfitting with each other so as to provide a strong, stifi and substantial base. The ribs of the return bent portion 6 preferably continue upwardly, as indicated at 9-9, to provide stiffening means for the standards 1. Parts of the ribs 9-9 in the preferred form function to assist in holding the wire portions of my improved chair.

The standard I is adapted to support reinforcing rods and in the form shown is recessed from the top so as to provide a seat In for a reinforcing bar II. A second and spaced apart seat is provided and is formed of wire. A single length of wire may be employed and be bent into seat form I2, spaced from and substantially on the same level with the seat Ill for the rod. II. The parts of the wire on opposite sides of the seat I2 extend downwardly and inwardly and then upwardly at lit, to form spaced side bars I3--I3 which rest in the reinforcing grooves 9-9. Parts of the vertical side edges of the standard I are crimped over at I II I to rigidly grip and clamp the wire 1936, Serial No. 68,826

in place on the standard. If desired, the wire may be deformed at I5 or kinked and the standard correspondingly deformed at Iii-46, so that the .wire is very rigidly held against any sliding movement on the standard. The upper ends of 5 the wire are provided with reverse bends at H and then extend over at I! to provide spring holding arms or clips fora second reinforcing rod I8, which rests upon and crosses the reinforcing rod I I. The free ends of the arms II are bent down 10 to form in effect detents to hold the rod l8 seated in operative position once it has been pressed through-the gate or lateral entrance passage between the rod I I and the ends of said arms. The extreme ends of said arms II are bent up as at 20 15 to form cams to receive the rod l8 as it is being entered so that it will lift said arms and permit said rod I8 to be snapped past the locking detents I9. The lower angular portion of the reverse bend II may rest on the upper edge of the chan- 20 nel 9 and thus support the wires against slipping down the channel.

It will be clear that assembly of the road chair with crossed reinforcing rods is an exceedingly simple matter. The rod I I is merely laid in place on its two seats Iii-l2 and the second rod I8 placed across the rod II and moved toward the left as viewed in Figs. 1 and 3. Such movement cams up the spring arms I! and when the arm l8 reaches the position shown the spring arm I! will have sprung down and the assembly will 'be complete. An entire mat of crossed reinforcing rods and assembled road chairs may be handled as a unit. Due to the two spaced apart seats there is no danger of the road chair tipping 35 in relation to the assembled rods.

It will be seen that my improved road chair consists of but few parts, simple in construction and easy to manufacture. The road chair is sturdy, cheap and easy to apply.

While the invention has been described in considerable detail and one specific form illustrated, it is to be understood that various changes may be made within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. 45

I claim:

1. In a road chair, a sheet metal member comprising a vertical standard recessed at its upper edge to form a seat for a horizontally arranged reinforcing rod, wire means folded intermediate 50 its length to form two spaced side bars, the folded portion being laterally offset to form a second seat for said. rod, the ends of said side bars being laterally offset to form a pair of spring clips projected over said second seat to overstand and reinforcing rod, wire means folded intermediate its length to form two spaced side bars, the folded portion being laterally oilset to form a second seat for said rod, the ends of said side bars being laterally offset to form a pair of spring clips projected over said second seat to overstand and hold in place a second horizontally arranged reinforcing bar supported on and extending transversely of the first rod, the side edges of said sheet metal standard being folded over said side bars between said second seat and said clips and rigidly and immovably connecting said parts together, said standard being corrugated longitudinally near its opposite side edges to receive therein said side bars.

3. In a road chair, a sheet metal member comprising a vertical standard recessed at its upper edge to form a seat for a horizontally arranged reinforcing rod, wire means folded intermediate its length to form two spaced side bars, the folded portion being laterally offset to form a second seat for said rod, the ends of said side bars being laterally offset to form a pair of spring clips projected over said second seat to overstand and hold in place a second horizontally'arranged reinforcing bar supported on and extending transversely of the first rod, the side edges of said sheet metal standard being folded over said side bars between said second seat and said clips and rigidly and immovably connecting said parts together,

said standard being corrugated longitudinally near its opposite side edges to receive therein said side bars, with kinks in said side bars, said corrugations being deformed to receive said kinks to keep said side bars against longitudinal displacement therein.

4. In a road chair, a sheet metal member comprising a vertical standard recessed at its upper edge to form a seat for a horizontally arranged reinforcing rod, Wire means folded intermediate its length to form two spaced side bars, the folded portion being laterally offset to form a second seat for said rod, the ends of said side bars being laterally offset to form a pair of spring clips projected over said second seat to overstand and hold in place a second horizontally arranged reinforcing bar supported on and extending transversely of the first rod, the side edges of said sheet metal standard being folded over said side bars between said second seat and said clips and rigidly and immovably connecting said parts together, the lower end of said sheet metal standard being bent laterally and then back in an opposite direction to form a broad foot extending on both sides of the vertical plane of said standard.

5. In a road chair, a sheet metal member comprising a vertical standard having a seat at its upper end for a horizontally arranged reinforcing rod, wire means including two spaced side bars, 'a lower portion of said wire means being laterally offset to form a second seat for said rod, the upper portion being laterally offset to form spaced spring clips projected over said second seat to overstand and hold in place a second horizontally arranged reinforcing bar supported on and extending transversely of the first rod, and means for rigidly connecting said side bars to said sheet metal standard.

OSCAR N. WHITEHEAD. 

